As my trip to Ireland comes to a close, I feel so
grateful.
·
I am grateful that several years ago, I took the
plunge and listied my home on homeexchange.com and was contacted by a wonderful
Irish family for this exchange. We loved
the town of Tralee, a working Irish town with a character all its own. I loved walking around and shopping in their
markets and shops thinking no one thought I was a tourist (ha!).
·
The first day, I went into a yarn store in town
and the women were all speaking in Gaelic.
As I browsed I was struck by the “lilt of Irish laughter” of women who
probably have known each other all their lives.
I purchased some blue yarn to make a crocheted flower for my daughter
Mindy’s crocheted wedding bouquet. I
told her what I was doing and showed her a photo. A few days later when I stopped in again, she
was crocheting a flower! Since my yarn
was variegated, it had not turned out how I liked. She shared a pattern I can use to make a
necklace she was wearing. I had admired
it and she told me she had made it that morning using the same type of yarn I
purchased. She then shared her pattern
for the flower she was making!
·
I am so grateful for my friend Mary
Margaret. I never fully realized how
“Irish” she and her family are…. There
is always a twinkling in their eyes and a sense of Irish humor that is so
characteristic of the Irish! I felt like
she is living is just the next town…and each time I see her, it will remind me
of the gracious people we met here in Ireland.
·
I am so grateful that Jeff shared this
experience with me. He drove on the
“other” (not wrong) side of the road with some trepidation at first but
mastered it quickly! I can’t tell you
how many tractors we faced on the roads (maybe 20-30!) but it was a constant
reminder that we were in rural western Ireland.
He is so fun to travel with.
·
I am grateful to Jeff for introducing me to
geocaching. We explored so many byways
off the beaten track and away from tour busses and loads of people. Some of the caches we found left us in awe
and it was incredible to be experiencing that for the first time alone. I am thankful to all the great geocachers who
took the time to include so much history on their sites so that we had a good
introduction to the history of each site.
·
Having family enjoy this trip with me was so
special. Amy and Christian joined us for
a week and Janet came the last week.
They were all such good sports, trekking off the beaten track with us
for geocaches as well as coming up with their own ideas to enjoy such as a walk
in the park, a trip to Cork, a wonderful stay in Galway, shopping and
exploring. Sisters Kathy, Patty and
Susie followed along with us virtually and we loved their comments and likes!
·
We barely left County Kerry. We sampled County Clare, County Cork and today, County Limerick. We travelled so many country roads that left
us with memories of times past and present.
·
This heritage trip made me grateful that my
ancestors escaped the harsh conditions of the potato famine years and braved
the hard journey over the rough seas for a better life and future. We walked some of the roads they walked,
visited the Father Mathew statue in Cork commemorating our gg grandfather
Jeremiah “Darby” who, like thousands others,
took the pledge not to drink. He
kept that pledge all his life. We loved
walking around Cork and in the harbor area where no doubt, they also
walked. To look out at the harbor yesterday,
where they left on their journeys, triggered strong emotions. I loved every moment and will carry this trip
in my heart forever.
